Adams story

My Story Since 1996 when we separated, relations between my former partner had been very good. We had lived together for seven years and had a daughter together in 1992. My former partner also had a daughter by a previous relationship who was aged 6-13 when we all lived together. We split very amicably in 1996 and I continued to have good relations with both the children and my ex partner.As an unmarried father I had no parental rights.

At the time I did not realise this. My ex became involved with a spiritual group after we split. At the time I saw no real reason for alarm.Over time she became more withdrawn from our circle of mutual friends and more involved with the group. In about 1999 I became aware that my ex had introduced her eldest daughter to the group.

I expressed some concern to my ex but was told not to worry and that it was not an issue. Since I had no blood ties to the girl I felt there was little I could do

. In September 2003 I was told by my brother's daughter that my ex had contacted her and asked if she had been abused by me or my brother. She said "No, never". On asking why this had come up my ex told her that my ex's daughter had said that my brother and I had seriously sexually assaulted her during a period over several years when she was younger and that there was a police investigation underway.

I immediately phoned my ex,who said that I was not allowed to contact my own daughter. This was when the horrific reality that I was to be denied contact with my daughter hit me.

I telephoned the police who confirmed that an investigation was underway and I would be contacted by them in due course. I then telephoned my lawyer and instigated court proceedings to restore contact and ask for due parental rights and responsibilities. After discussing matters with my family and friends my brother and I decided that we would shout very loudly and would not do as the police suggested which was to keep our heads down and keep quiet.

We wrote to the Chief Constable demanding to be interviewed as soon as possible. This and all other letters were copied to our MSP, MP, councilors and Director of Social Work. At the first court hearing regarding contact I was granted supervised contact with my daughter. The supervisor was to be my ex partner's sister who was also a member of the spiritual group.

By now the entire community was behind my brother and me. We were pleased to receive many letters and messages of support. Research into the activities of the spiritual group now showed that the two leaders appeared to be obsessed with paedophilia and claimed to receive messages from God on this subject and others such as race, homosexuality and fetishism. It soon became clear that almost all members of the group claimed to have been abused as children and that none had any memories of this until they underwent "therapy" with the two group leaders.

There were many times throughout that I thought how absurd the whole thing was. If it wasn't so tragic it would have been a fantastic plot for a TV drama.

On the 9th of November, after repeated letters to the police my brother and I were asked to attend for an informal interview. On turning up at the police station I was arrested, finger printed, searched and placed in a cell. After some time I was interviewed by two child protection officers. The questions were so vague as to be almost unanswerable

. Question: When you lived together did you ever go into the girls' bedroom? Question: Did you ever touch the children's clothes when you lived together? Question: What do you consider to be inappropriate behaviour towards young children?

After two hours of this I was charged with two counts of rape and three of lewd and libidinous behaviour. The police had the charges hand written before the interview. They were obviously going to charge me no matter what the interview resulted in.

I now know that there is a policy in police forces throughout Scotland to always charge the accused in cases of racial or sexual abuse no matter what the evidence. After being bailed, my brother and I turned up at our sheriff court for an initial hearing. There were no papers available from the police or Procurator Fiscal. We were then free to leave. This left us in a state of limbo. Accusations had been made, charges laid but the authorities would not come to the fight.

The frustration of this almost broke us. I now know that I went through at least one breakdown. My brother was contemplating suicide. The family and friends around us kept us going. I had made my employers aware of the situation from the start. They stood by me. My ex partner and other members of the group wrote letters to my employer stating that I had abused children. After hearing this I immediately instructed my lawyers to threaten court action for defamation. The letters stopped. After some months the criminal case was dormant as far as we could see. None of the statutory bodies would communicate with us. I continued with court action to maintain contact with my daughter. The court appointed a Reporter (a lawyer) who was to gather evidence about the situation with special regard to my daughter. I was interviewed by him twice. My feeling was that he was very good, independent and insightful. He also spoke to my ex, my daughter, the accuser, our mutual friends and the leaders of the spiritual group. My lawyer was pessimistic about the potential outcome.

As an experienced family lawyer had never seen unrestricted contact restored between a child and an accused parent. He said that any court reporter would always err on the side of caution and recommend either a contact centre arrangement or supervised contact. Relations had always been so good between us all so I never formalized parental rights. Because of this I was fighting from a very weak position. I was also denied legal aid. My income is less than £15 000 per annum.

Until September 2003 I paid £220 per week child maintenance quite happily. I'm not wealthy. The court reporter was unable to complete his report without advice from the Procurator Fiscal office as to whether the criminal case against me was to proceed.

Eventually in July 2004 the PF's office told the court reporter that the criminal case could not proceed due to lack of evidence. At a subsequent family court hearing I was granted unrestricted contact with my daughter and full parental rights and responsibilities.

Although we are all now closer than ever because of the dreadful experience and my brother and I are recovering, the impact on us all has been very severe. My daughter went through what she describes as "the worst year of my life" at the age of eleven. My own partner of eight years had to watch me almost disintegrate physically, mentally and emotionally. My father, aged 75 has had his warm personality coloured by intense anger. Our community has had to deal with the existence of a group within it which appeared to see the community as dangerous.

The bizarre behaviour of my ex continues. She still believes that I abused her daughter. She believes that I abused our own daughter. Just last week she agreed to let our daughter and I go on holiday to Spain for a week. Would any sane parent do this? I now understand what it feels like to be accused of a horrific act. I now understand that the authorities are cold, calculating and can act without regulation. I want to leave this country with my partner and daughter and never come back.